Netflix made their inaugural presentation at the first-ever Comic-Con Hall H panel with their movie adaptation ofDeath Notebased on the original manga and anime series of the same name. DirectorAdam Wingard(You’re Next) was on hand to discuss the project as were producersMasi OkaandRoy Lee. All of them expressed affection for the source material and determination to bring it to life.
StarringNat Wolffas Light Turner,Margaret Qualleyas Mia Sutton, andLakeith Stanfieldas L, withWillem Dafoeas the voice of Ryuk, the panel began with a screening of a trailer that didn’t show much beyond what had already been released online in late June, as we get background behind the concept and the power that it brings to Light:
“It was an opportunity to take a great premise and bring new life to it - really cool themes you can embed with good and evil,” Wingard said about what drew him toward the project. He was also impressed with the many different kinds of stories that could be told within. “This film encapsulates all genres in a lot of ways,” he said. Masi Oka assured the audience that the original creators ofDeath Notewere involved from the beginning and are behind it. “If they loved it, the fans would love it too,” Oka said.
In addition to the trailer, the panel featured a clip where Light finds the Death Note book and soon finds himself startled by the demon Ryuk after winds swirled through a classroom, blowing things everywhere. The start of the clip has not been released online, but the bulk of it can be found below… right up to the part where the whole audience groaned that they didn’t get to see what happened next.
Nat Wolff, who plays Light, praisedDeath Noteas being a story where the themes make it “very adaptable;” the actor joked that when he was preparing for the film, he wrote his own Death Note. Actor Lakeith Steinfeld (L) was attracted to the project because “we’re all weird in the best way.”
“That’s what attracted me to L, so I let myself be weird,” he shared.
Death Notereleases worldwide July 05, 2025 on Netflix. Here’s the official synopsis.
Based on the famous Japanese manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note follows a high school student who comes across a supernatural notebook, realizing it holds within it a great power; if the owner inscribes someone’s name into it while picturing their face, he or she will die. Intoxicated with his new godlike abilities, the young man begins to kill those he deems unworthy of life.
